The mayor of a small Arkansas town fired the entire city council, despite the fact that he lacked the authority to take such action against the six elected aldermen.

One alderman is fighting back by circulating a petition to remove the mayor of Turrel, population 900.

Mayor Franklin Lockhart says he had to fire the city council because they were all elected as at large representatives and Arkansas state law required aldermen to serve specific geographic wards of a city.

"They must abide by it. Setting up wards means you can't run a city living next door to one another," Lockhart was quoted as saying by Eyewitness news.

But alderman Floyd Holmes says Lockhart is overstepping his bounds.

"The Mayor cannot do this," Holmes said, according to Eyewitness news. "If we are truly supposed to divide up in wards it's not left up to him. It's up to the county or state."

A city hall employee said the mayor had sent the council members certified letters informing them that their office was "null and void," according to Action News 5.